Indonesian schoolgirl virginity test plan sparks outcry

High-school girls in an Indonesian district will not be subjected to virginity tests in order to graduate, an official insisted Wednesday, after a lawmaker sparked an outcry by proposing the move.

The MP in the Jember local parliament on the main island of Java, last week put forward a regulation on "good conduct" that included forcing female students to pass a virginity test before they can complete high school.

He argued that the move was aimed at tackling pre-marital sex in conservative Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population.